The Red Lobster restaurant near Times Square was looking for kitchen help, but when a former jailbird who spent more than a decade in the clink applied, they decided not to hand the ex-con a meat cleaver.

So the retired robber is suing for discrimina tion, and experts say he has a case.

Red Lobster manager Nicole McVaugh re fused to hire Robert Smith, 38, whose crimi nal records show at least two stints in state prison for at least three counts of robbery.

Smith submitted an online application for the gig in February, and honestly answered the form’s question about prior convictions. He never received a call back.

He phoned the tourist-jammed eatery repeatedly and, on the fifth try, got manager McVaughn on the horn.

“I’m sorry to have to give you this info, but in my position as manager I don’t hire convicted felons.” she told him.

The robster saw red.

Smith, who worked as a line cook for six years at Applebee’s after he was released from prison in 2000, says in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed last week that the rejection left him “humiliated.” He seeks unspecified damages retroactive to the time Red Lobster gave him the bum’s rush.

“If former convicts are prevented from getting jobs and integrating productively into society, then what choices are we leaving them?” said Smith’s lawyer, Kosta Kollef, who offered few details on his client’s rap sheet.

New York law is on Smith’s side, say some experts who explained that current statutes do not give employers carte blanche to turn away convicted job applicants. They could if they prove their criminal history poses an “unreasonable risk” to safety.

“In fact, if the Red Lobster manager said what he’s alleging, he’s actually got a potential case,” said Jim Copland of the Manhattan Institute.

But even as businesses are shackled by discrimination laws, they’re on the hook if they hire a known criminal who later goes off the deep end, experts said.

The law needs to be given a once-over, Copland said.

Red Lobster issued this statement: “First, our hiring standards will always follow the law. Second, we have no record of ever receiving this gentleman’s application. We’ve invited this gentleman to interview and submit an application and that offer is still available.”